Underneath that pear tree
by Jejoh18
Summary: With her hometown and all the horrible memories behind her, Isabella Swan escapes to Australia to work on a farm. Will she be able to turn around from her past to work on her future? Rated M for future Lemons!
1. Preface

I'm on a great journey in my life right now, the one where you are supposed to find yourself on. And trust me, it's a full time job. I should get payed for it! And while I'm on that journey, I figured I could try writing, and since I love FF and The Twilight Saga I made it a combination.

No matter how many times I wish that The Twilight Saga will be mine, you will never see my name written as the author of the oh-so-beautiful story. However, you will see my name under each and every chapter of this story. Because all these words are mine. And I hope you like them, perhaps even love them. Here we go; The preface.

_Underneath that pear tree_

**Preface**

As a child, I dreamed of a better place; a place which could not be touched by darkness or evil. Like that happy ending of a fairytale. During my year away from what I thought was hell, I have come to realize that life is full of pain and misery, of evil. But it is also full of laughter, happiness and friends. And love. So much love. That is what life is; a great balance between good and evil.

Take it or leave it.

_Running away from home and leaving everything I ever knew behind, has so far been the best choice I have ever made. __It led me to life._

_

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_So, that was the preface. I'm still polishing the first chapter, but hopefully it will be up during the weekend.

_Jessie_


	2. Chapter one Standing on your own

Chapter one

_In the end, __the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself._

_Bella_

I took one last look of what used to be my safe haven. What used to be filled with happiness and love, but those days were long gone. My bedroom is now filled with awful memories, memories that I would never wish on my worst enemy. Memories that have threatened to swallow me. Memories that are the main reason for me leaving tonight.

My old car rumbles loudly in the silent night and I feel exceptionally lucky that both my parents are gone. It makes running away easy. I hate goodbyes. They feel so permanent. But I have made my decision, and running away feels like the best choice, for me. And it has been a while since I did something for me.

The only ones on the road are me and my car and that feels somewhat comforting. I put my IPod on shuffle and while the beautiful intro of Jeff Buckley's _Last Goodbye _playsI prepare for a long journey towards Australia.

I have never been outside the state of Washington and feel really scared as the pilot prepares the passengers for the landing. It has been quite the uneventful flight if you do not count the baby in the seat behind me and its constant wailing. Imagine being so little and still discover the little things in life and being forced to go through flying. Poor thing. Flying even scares me, and I have had eighteen years to accommodate to the world.

I make my way through the throngs of people. Every way I turn I see happy reunions. A young couple giving each other intimate glances. A mother, clutching her son's hands tightly, while giving her husband a kiss. A young mother, holding the wailing baby from the plane, meeting her family. Even the businessmen have someone there to pick them up. But no one is here to great me, I am all alone.

I take the little things I brought with me, the most important thing being my camera. It still awes me, after five years behind the camera. How can such a little thing make memories last forever? _Amazing._

I make my way towards the buses.

In my periphery I see a boy with this weird bronze color argue with someone that looks a little to young to be his father, but to old to be a friend. I turn around and look at them. I can't seem to shake away the curiosity about this boy. He looks about my age. And have absolutely stunning features. A strong jaw, and what looks like emerald greens for eyes. Without second thought I take a picture with my camera. What the heck just flew into me? Embarrassed, I turn around quickly and run towards the buses. What if I was caught red handed? My face would literally look like a tomato if that would be the case.

I have been saving for this trip my whole life. Well, maybe not for this exact trip, but for a way out. I have felt out of place and really uncomfortable my whole life. I have had this feeling that there were some place out there, destined for me. So, I started saving. I got myself a job and practically isolated myself. And I did not have to worry about leaving any friends behind, since I have never really had any.

My parents wondered what had me so focused. The only answer I gave them was my future. How do you really tell your parents that you want to escape from your life? That you sometimes even feel uncomfortable in your own skin. That was not a conversation I even wanted to think about. When they mentioned College I took the easiest way out and told them that that was what I was saving for. It could not have been further away from the truth.

Looking out the window I could see the landscape of South Australia. I have never seen so many vibrant colors at once before. It was absolutely beautiful. It was life. I could not turn my eyes away from the beauty that was Australia. There was something familiar about this country, and my mind immediately drifted back to the boy at the airport earlier. In some weird way, he represented Australia. With the hair and the eyes and the strong, but at the same time, soft lines. Suddenly I was forced from my thoughts when the guy in front of me wanted attention.

"Hi my name is Eric, what is your name?"

I could either play dumb, like I could not understand English. Or I could totally ignore this annoying boy which chewed his gum with an open mouth. Or I could play nice and get this over with.

"Hi." I answered. I figured I could at least be a little nice. Try new things.

He looked at me like he was waiting for something. I then understood he wanted my name too. It had been such a long time since I had had any real interaction with an actual human being that I suddenly felt like a caveman. Or perhaps Robinson Crusoe.

"Bella"

He seemed happy to finally get an answer out of me.

"I am originally from Georgia but have been travelling through Australia for almost a year now. What do you do here? How long have you been here?"

Dear god. Are people always this pushy? What about privacy? Did I even ask him a question? And when did I become such a bitch?

"Cool. I am here to work. And I am from Washington. The state, not the capital." I tried a little bit more of this so called niceness, if that even is a word.

"My parents and I went there once. Really green and rainy. We camped out in the forest for a week but my mom could not handle all the rain so we went back home after two nights. So much for being adventurous."

I really did not know how to answer that. He seemed to have no verbal filter whatsoever and I was the lucky one that got to experience it. He continued talking for the rest of the ride. He told me about all the things he had experienced on his trip. About snorkeling in The Great Barrier Reef and hiking on Fraser Island. About all the awesome people he met. I now knew that he was afraid of sharks, loved everything that his mother cooked and changed sheets every day.

After over eleven excruciating hours the bus stopped in Adelaide and I was free of Eric and the extremely uncomfortable bus seat. At one point, he tried for my phone number, but I nicely told him that I never gave away my number to people that I have known shorter than a month. He seemed to buy it.

This is the part where it all begins I thought to myself as I saw a green Chevy truck pull up to the curb. I immediately recognized the face of the driver. I had not seen my grandmother since I first started walking, but I would recognize her anywhere. My mother was the spitting image of her, only my grandmother looked older, and wiser.

"Bella" She sounded relived. Like she had not been breathing for a while and could finally take a breath.

I dropped all my stuff on the ground and gave her a tight hug. I only now realized how much I had missed this person in front of me, a woman that I had only met once or twice, but kept in touch with all my life through letters. She and my mom lost contact when I was two, and have not spoken since.

A few months ago I got a letter from my grandmother, telling me that my grandfather passed away. She told me how she wished I was there, but mostly wondered how she would break the news to my mother. That was the day that I decided to go to Australia and help her out on her farm. Even though we practically are strangers, being as far away from home as possible sounded really good. And being here, in a foreign country on the other side of the planet, in the arms of a stranger, I have never felt safer.

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A/N: So... It didn't take so long as I thought it would. But don't go around with any expectations, this may not be a habit! As it is right now, I haven't even started with chapter two yet! Anyway, this down there, do you see where I'm pointing? Is the official site for this story. Check it out!

http:/ underneaththatpeartree . blogspot . com

Love, Jessie


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